Self Reliance
by Side Quest Publications
Summary: Alternate Universe, in which Remington and Komi-Ko were raised as brother and sister. What happens when Knuckles and company finds out?


**First point: as the description should have mentioned, this is AU. In this story, Remington and Komi-Ko are brother and sister, not the "dates" implied by the all of two issues I've seen the lady in.  
And technically, the comic never actually **_**said**_**...  
And since I take canon from where it helps me the most, I cheerfully ignore anything the writers might have said otherwise in forums and chatrooms and such. And since Sonic has had so many retcons and multiple universes, I rationalize my decision to do so as same old, same old.  
I have exactly two reasons so far to write their relationship this way. One is the way this story turns out; the second is "Bad Blood," which I came up with after playing around with this one. And I'm toying with a third one ("now" or some non-specific future date), but I don't think the relationship affects it that deeply. Yet.**

**Second point: in my version, the wedding scene in SSS #14 is the first time Remmy and Komi-Ko have seen each other in...a while. Whether I have a "now" story (besides this one) in which one or the other explains the situation to anyone else (or even an actual reunion scene) remains to be seen, though I have a few ideas I'm toying with. Including more than a few that completely contradict each other, or other stories I may write.  
Most of the detail will be in the "history" stories, though, with just a bit of detail in the "now" story/ies like this one has.  
**

**Third point: this takes place...oh, say, somewhere between issue 109 and 114. After Lara-Su disappears from the main timeline, and before Mammoth Mogul rears his ugly head again. Probably **_**shortly**_** after Lara-Su disappears.**

**Fourth point: I would really love to do this up as a comic for my deviantArt account. Namely, the scene where Vector butts in, on to the end. Which is, to say, the original version of the story. (I came up with the tour and the "Bad Blood" references later.) That would be...um...section 3, it looks like, minus the first two paragraphs.  
But my drawing skills are not up to par. I can see the page in my head, but pictures in my head tend to get muddled when I translate to pen and paper.  
Anybody up for the challenge?  
If nothing else, I'll see if I can commission something over there.**

**And finally, the copyright notice. I don't own anyone.**

* * *

"Right this way, my lady," Murphy said. He knocked on the door to the Constable's office. "Miss Komi-Ko here to see you, Constable."

"Come in," Remington replied.

Murphy opened the door and gestured for her to enter.

"Komi-Ko," Remington said, looking up and smiling. "Have a seat, please. I'll be with you in a moment; I just need to finish with this report."

Komi-Ko swiped two cookies from his desk and made herself comfortable on the sofa in the corner.

Remington winced, and tried to ignore the thought of crumbs in his sofa. She, however, seemed to be in pure bliss over the cookies, and he refused to interrupt that. He flipped through the document and scanned the pages again, and finally closed it with a sigh.

"Something wrong?" Komi-Ko asked.

"I was just hoping I could deal with this myself," he replied. "Looks like I'll need to ask the Guardian about it. However..." He walked over to the couch and held out a hand for Komi-Ko. "My shift _is_ over with. For the next 15 hours, I am yours to command."

"Careful, Remmy," she replied, taking the offered hand. "You should never make such promises to my kind. You never know when we'd take you up on it."

He grinned. "And you could do it, too, couldn't you? Even if they paged me."

She nodded. "Now, about that tour somebody promised me..."

—

Remington and Komi-Ko stepped out of the bookstore.

"Constable!" Julie-Su called. "Komi-Ko, how are you?" Julie-Su and the Chaotix ran up to meet them. "You know, we never _did_ finish introducing ourselves, did we?"

"Are you sure that's all this is about?" Remington asked, after noting that their expressions ranged from smug to sheepish. "I never pegged you for a gossip, Julie-Su."

"Guess you shouldn't judge everyone by their _record_, now, should you?" She grinned. "Of course, _you_ probably know that better than anyone."

"Oh, go on with you!" Remington flapped his hands at Komi-Ko and the others. "I need to ask the Guardian about something, anyway."

Remington and Knuckles found a nearby bench to sit on while the rest of the group wandered off to talk. "So how did you two get separated, anyway?" Knuckles asked.

Remington blinked. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious how much your memory of it matches hers," Knuckles replied. "What she told me was...bizarre, to say the least. Even with the things I've seen."

"Long story short, the Ancient Walkers showed up in the middle of her unveiling," Remington replied. "When they vanished, so did she."

"That _sounds_ like what she said," Knuckles said carefully.

Remington sighed. "And then things went from bad to worse," he muttered.

"How do you mean?"

"Some people got it in their heads that I was responsible for her disappearance," Remington replied. He ran his hands through his hair. "Our 'friends' had gotten into something they shouldn't have, so they were too afraid to come forward. I already had a record, and it certainly didn't help that I hadn't reported her missing. Never mind that I was in shock for a solid _week_."

Knuckles blinked several times as he tried to process that information. _Constable Remington had a record? What did _he_ do?_ He glanced in Julie-Su's direction, then flicked his attention back to Remington. "Sounds like you had some _great_ friends," he muttered.

"Don't I know it," Remington snarled. "Anyway, there was barely any evidence to say _what_ happened, but you couldn't convince anyone that I was innocent, least of all Guardian Hawking. If someone hadn't come up with that video, I'd be rotting in prison right now!"

Knuckles stared. How could Grandfather Hawking force him to go through that? How could any of the Guardians... He sat up straighter. "Wait..._Hawking_? What did he—"

"Could we please talk about something else, now?"

Knuckles winced. _Me and my big mouth. He hadn't seen her in almost ten years, and I had to get him started on the _painful_ memories._ "Right. You had something you wanted to ask me?"

Remington nodded. "There's this girl I met, called herself Jani-Ca..."

—

Knuckles shook his head. He thought over the details Remington had given him, and shook his head again. "Doesn't sound like anyone I've met." He shrugged. "Not that that's saying much; you'd have to ask the Brotherhood about her."

"I was afraid of that," Remington said. He'd only told the Guardian a little about this girl; he didn't plan to even tell the Brotherhood about his suspicions, or this fear she had that he'd kill the Guardian. Not until he found out more about her, at least.

"Yo, Constable!" Vector called.

"Vector, would you _give_ it a _rest_?" Julie-Su said, coming up behind him. "I'm telling you, it's _not_ what you think!"

"Just because _you_ like to mess around don't mean _I_ got to be the bad guy," Vector snarled at her.

"And getting your friend in trouble over _nothing_ makes you the good guy?" she replied.

"It _ain't_ nothing!"

Remington watched the two of them approach. "What is it now?"

Julie-Su waited until Vector's back was turned, then she grinned and winked.

Remington lifted on eyebrow. Then his frown slowly turned into a smile.

Knuckles watched the change in attitude, but chose not to comment.

"Just thought I ought to warn you," Vector said, "_Espio's_ trying to flirt with Komi-Ko!"

"What." Remington stared at the crocodile, then began rubbing at his forehead. He ducked his head to try to hide his snickering.

Knuckles barely managed to disguise his laughter as a coughing fit. Vector peered at him. "You okay, bro?"

"I'll be...fine...in a...moment."

"Vector, Komi-Ko is a big girl," Remington said. "I'm _sure_ she can take care of herself." He glanced at Knuckles. "You'd gotten to know her rather recently, Guardian. What do you think?"

Knuckles couldn't speak without laughing, so he simply nodded.

"There, you see? He agrees. She's perfectly capable of fending off unwanted suitors."

Vector's jaw dropped, and Julie-Su snickered at his astonishment. "You're _okay_ with some guy hitting on your girl?" Vector asked.

Remington's eyebrow lifted higher. "She's hardly 'my girl,' Vector, she's my _sister_. And I think I've outgrown trying to terrorize every guy who tries to make eye contact with her." He pulled out a book he had purchased and began leafing through the pages. He glanced up at Vector. "Was that all?"

Vector blinked a few times, and then a sly grin crossed his face. "_Sister_? Well, I suppose that does make more sense," he muttered. "I mean, a piece of work like that going around with someone like him..."

Remington dug a finger in his ear. "I'm sorry, Vector, I didn't quite catch that."

"Yipe! I—I, uh, I didn't say anything."

_I didn't _think_ so,_ Remington thought. He looked at the book, seeming for all the world to be completely engrossed in the pages.

"Yeah," Vector muttered, "I think I'm, uh, I'm just going to be...over there for a while." He walked back towards the group, glancing over his shoulder to look at Remington every few seconds.

Julie-Su folded her arms and started tapping her foot until Remington finally looked up at her. "You're okay with _Vector_ trying to flirt with her? I mean, her _brother_ should be willing to protect her from unwanted attention, no matter how capable she is, right?"

"I'd _like_ to, Julie-Su. I really would. And if I wasn't on the EST, I'd give him a sound thrashing for even _thinking_ it." Remington shrugged. "But I don't think I could afford another arrest. Not in my position, and certainly not over some innocent flirting." He returned his attention to the book.

"Innocent?" Julie-Su replied. "Are you even _on_ the same planet? I mean, you have _met_ Vector, haven't you?"

He grinned, but did not tear his eyes away from the book. "Three...two..._duck_..."

_POW!_

Julie-Su and Knuckles ducked in time for Vector to sail right above their heads and through a tree. They turned to see their friends giving Komi-Ko a very wide berth.

Komi-Ko glared in the direction Vector had gone. She looked absolutely furious.

Espio rushed up to her and started brushing her off and kissing the knuckles on her clenched fist. "Oh, you poor dear, what did his hide do to your hand? And—" he gasped. "And just _look_ at your _sleeve_!"

She blinked, and glanced at the tear near her wrist, then flicked her attention back to Vector. "_And_ you owe me for the _dress_!"

Julie-Su and Knuckles finally managed to pull their eyes away from the scene to see Remington apparently still engrossed in his book, not the least bit surprised.

"I did say she can take care of herself, didn't I?" he said.

**

* * *

**

**Note to self: hidden text from MS Word shows up on FFA. It doesn't matter whether it's from the upload, or if I copy/paste the text I want; it _still_ shows up.**

**I have a longer version of this in which I reveal more of Knuckles' prior knowledge of Komi-Ko's identity (or sort of the lack thereof, given how I wrote it), and which I also display certain of Komi-Ko's talents (for some strange reason I decided she was a mage). The longer version also provides more detail on Remington's past.  
As to the former, it is at Knuckles' and Remmy's expense, and I decided to limit the story to only poking fun at Vector. Plus, I couldn't figure out how to rationalize Remmy going so easily from pissed off that Knuckles never **_**told**_** him he knew Komi-Ko to calmly discussing...well...anything. As to the latter, I'll just leave the "more detail" waiting for whenever I get around to writing "Bad Blood."**

**I also wanted to have a couple of bets going: one on how long it would take Vector to start hitting on Komi-Ko once he learned she was Remmy's sister. And another on how long before she socked him one.  
But I can't decide who the bets should be between. Espio is one possibility, but Remington? Or Julie-Su? Or...maybe even Harry could have gotten in on it...**

**Final point: Anonymous reviews are enabled, but because re-uploading a oneshot (or a final chapter to a completed _longer_ fic) is such a painful way to deal with responses, if you have questions that require answers****—or even some that don't****—_please_ sign your reviews so that I can use the reply function. The worse that can happen then is that multiple people write in with the same question, requiring multiple replies.  
Anonymous questions are no big deal in the incomplete stories, but as you can see from my Sonic fics...**


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